


Real Housewives of Supernatural County

by am3ria



Category: Supernatural
Genre: All The Ships, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Babies, Castiel seems terrible at first, Celebrity Castiel, Destiel - Freeform, Doctor Dean, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I hate tags, M/M, Nobody is Dead, all the sexual orientations, cain saves the day, dean understands nothing, he's actually very humble, more tags to come probably, sad backstory castiel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-19 22:09:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9462257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/am3ria/pseuds/am3ria
Summary: Castiel and Cain have the perfect marriage. Too bad it's not real. Their relationship will truly be tested when Cain's secret lover Anna becomes pregnant. Will Castiel's plan to keep it covered up and out of the public eye work out? Or will Anna's OBGYN, Dr. Sexy himself, Dean Winchester, throw a wrench into everyone's plans?





	1. In The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second time I've written and I usually just do short little one shots. I am posting the short first chapter to see how reception is and if anyone likes it I'll continue this work. So PLEASE be brutally honest. All mistakes are my own. I still have major baby brain from having my son 8 1/2 weeks ago so I don't know if my writing skills are up to par to even bother. So let me know in the comments!

Castiel released a small puff of air as he stared at his reflection. His eyes danced over himself, taking in his attire. He smiled, satisfied, and quickly ran his hands down the front of his suit jacket, giving a short tug when he reached the hem. With that, he turned to leave the en suite bathroom and return to his bedroom.  
  
"Whaddyathink?" he rushed out, eyes downcast as he admired himself.   
  
"Oh baby," came the humored reply.   
  
Castiel's eyes lifted and a smile tugged the corners of his mouth. "Yeah," he snorted, "I sure do clean up nice, don't I?"   
  
"You certainly do," the other man replied," but don't forget, _sweetheart_ , who this night is about."  
  
Smile still on his lips Castiel made his way over to the other man who happened to be standing just outside the entry to the massive walk in closet they shared. Seriously. Castiel had never had a home as big as that closet that he could ever remember.   
  
"Don't be silly," he murmured, his eyes scrolling over the body in front of him, "you know I only dress this way to make my darling husband look his best. Can't have you showing up with a shabby wife now, can we?" His voice was filled with delight as his hands came up from his sides and reached for the tie that lay slightly askew on his husbands chest. He gave it a tiny push to ensure it was tight enough after his fidgety fingers worked at it. Once he was satisfied he gave a curt nod and let his eyes drift up to the face that was almost perfectly level to his own.  
  
"I know," the man said softly, his hands coming up to gently cup Castiel's cheeks. "I could not ask for a more perfect partner."  
  
"You certainly couldn't," Castiel teased.  
  
"And for that," his husband replied, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Castiel's forehead, "I love you and am eternally grateful."  
  
Castiel's cheeks flushed ever so slightly, the softest bit of pink. "Oh please," he whispered, leaning his forehead onto the others mans cheek for a brief moment. "You spoil me."  
  
"Cain?"   
  
The voice interrupted the moment and the two men released their embrace slowly.  
  
"Yes, Anna?" Cain turned toward the petite red head, a grin spread wide across his face. He gave Castiel a friendly squeeze to his shoulder before he began moving toward the woman who stood in the open doorway to the homes master bedroom.  
  
"Don't forget, when they interview you tonight, to tell them about the decision you and Castiel have made." Her eyes glowed as she raised her arms to embrace the grey haired man.  
  
"He won't," came Castiel's reply, "you know I won't let him." He turned his gaze to the clock that hung on the wall before turning his azure eyes back to Cain. Those eyes said _don't you dare make us late_. With that, Castiel brushed past Anna with a friendly bump of his shoulder.  
  
The woman wore a tattered old sweatshirt that was slightly too large but looked like it couldn't possibly be any comfier. The sleeves were too long and she held onto them with her fingers as her arms came to wrap around Cain's shoulders.   
  
"Behave yourselves," Cain teased. He dipped his head down and pressed a light kiss to Anna's lips.  
  
"We will," she responded after she returned the affectionate gesture. She stepped back enough to look between their bodies, a grin splitting her pink lips wide open. One of her arms slipped away from Cain's neck to reach between their torsos. She let a dainty hand rest on her flat stomach, rubbed small circles onto it gently. "Do you hear that, little one?" She gave a timid pat, "your daddy is going out tonight to win a great big award. He's going to be on television and we're going to be at home cheering him on, aren't we?"  
  
"You flatter me." Cain stepped back from the woman and let his own hand fall flat over hers. "Mommy is getting a little ahead of herself. Daddy hasn't won anything yet. We don't even know if he will."  
  
"Sorry," Anna said softly, "but if anyone deserves the awards in your nominated categories its you. I say that as a true fan of film! Not just as your biggest fan."  
  
Cain laughed openly, shaking his head and his too-long grey hair as he did. He opened his mouth to respond when he noticed a very unimpressed face lingering just behind Anna's shoulder.  
  
"My love," he said quickly, "it appears my husband is growing very impatient with my antics. I'd better take my leave before he makes me sleep on the couch tonight."   
  
Castiel's unimpressed snort could be heard from the hallway that he'd already started down. His arms were folded across his chest, his distaste obvious. He hated being late to these events and Cain always did love to push it to the last minute. It was true, he knew, that Cain was never a fan of the limelight or making appearances at such events (or any events for that matter) but Castiel always  reminded him how crucial it was that they did. Especially if they wanted to keep up the appearances of their marriage. It had been tough to keep Anna under wraps as it was and Castiel knew that if they didn't show up in public venues on a regular basis that paparazzi would come snooping all too soon and then shit would certainly hit the proverbial fan.  
  
As Castiel put his shoes on his mind drifted back to all the scrutiny he and Cain had received when they had first been seen together. If there weren't people reporting false information there were people chasing them around town trying to get the 'real scoop' on the situation.   
  
The couple had created such an uproar ten years prior when they began their relationship that simply could not be kept out of the watchful eye of the public. Cain had already been a well established director at the time but he had always kept his lifestyle very private so when he was suddenly starting to be spotted around town it was already buzz worthy but when people took notice of the fact he was being seen with the same male every time that buzzing became a swarm. When people realized that male was, yes, not just a platonic companion but Cain's romantic interest and he was a fifteen years younger than the director the buzz became deafening and the flash of cameras became blinding for the couple.   
  
All the attention surrounding the men had gone from a boil to a simmer around five years into the relationship. They both felt releaved to be getting back to being considered relatively boring news when the decision to marry came up. Television networks had been begging to come into the home, see the ceremony, get the exclusive scoop on the couples plans and reasons. Thankfully, Cain had handled it the appropriate way. Which was, of course, to let Castiel handle it. He had swiftly learned just how to handle these people and situations.  
  
Castiel was dragged from his memories when a hand gripped his own. He hadn't even been aware he'd not only gotten into the limosine they were taking to the award show that night but that they had already arrived at the venue.  
  
"I'm sorry," he murmured, eyes fixated on their hands. He eyed the golden band that wrapped around his ring finger.   
  
"It's okay to be in your own head. This is a big night for us. Are you sure this is the right decision?"  
  
"Of course," Castiel hissed quickly, "or don't you want to continue having a relatively normal existence? I know the idea seems absurd but could you really think of any other way to go about this?"  
  
Cain breathed in through his nose sharply and let it out tiredly. "You're right," he nodded, "this is the best decision for all of us."  
  
Castiel gave a wary smile and slipped his hand out from under Cain's.  
  
"Well, come on then. We've got a red carpet to blow up."  
  
The couple shared a silent laugh with their eyes. When the moment ended they both inhaled deeply and Castiel reached for the handle of the door.  
  
Out of the darkness and into the light. Flash. Flash. Yelling and waving and hands outstretched from between the limbs of security personnel that were filled with papers and pens and sharpies all hoping for an autograph or even just for a celebrity to look in their direction. Castiel grinned broadly, remembering how overwhelming this had all been the first time around. He'd hated it, loved it, and now he simply behaved like the professional he was. He waved at fans, turned his head to whichever paparazzi was calling his name to pose. He took pictures on his own, he took pictures with his husband. They looked the perfect picture of wedded bliss.   
  
"Castiel!" a voice yelled. The dark haired man turned his head to acknowledge the tiny woman that gripped a microphone tightly, "you look amazing! Who are you wearing?"  
  
As Castiel addressed the woman Cain wandered onward, every so often glancing back to see where Castiel was in the sea of people. There was a specific interview coming that they needed to handle together and Cain found himself beginning to sweat with anxiety. He had been in this industry so long but he had never been invested in this part of it until Castiel had come into his life. He still felt anxious every time they made an appearance. The only thing that got him through these events was his absolutely flawless husband.   
  
Though Cain did not love Castiel in the way the public believed, he did love him more than he could ever remember loving someone. Well, until Anna had come along. He also knew, without a doubt, he would love his yet to arrive child more than Castiel or Anna.   
  
As he was thinking on this his face had opened into a broad smile. When his eyes found Castiel's own he gave his partner a tiny nod and lifted an arm that beckoned him over with an awaiting hand. Quickly Castiel was at his side, fingers intertwined.   
  
"Are you ready?" Castiel asked him seriously. It was barely more than a whisper, phrased close to the older mans ear.  
  
"As I'll ever be."  
  
With that, Castiel lead the pair to their required destination. They stood before the large white board that read the name of the award show over and over. Pictures were taken one last time from every angle and when they were complete the duo was ushered over to yet another news personality that was waiting to ask them questions about their evening. After they'd finally finished up with this last interrogation the couple made their way inside and found their seats near the front of the astoundingly large venue.  
  
The night seemed to drag on forever. It was too important a night for either Castiel or Cain to keep their cools. They'd spent the last few weeks arguing on how to broach the subject of Anna's pregnancy before Castiel had finally made up his mind about the way they would break the news to the world.  
  
 _"And the winner is..."_   
  
Castiel's toes curled in his shoes nervously, his fingers gripping at the hem of his suit jackets sleeves. This is the moment they'd been waiting for all night. It was Cain's first nomination of the night. If he won in this category not only did it mean there was a likely chance he'd take home other awards that evening as well but that he would be able to stand on that stage, broadcasted live before all the world, and tell the news of the upcoming child.  
  
"Cain Firstson, The Executioner's Song," proclaimed the announcer.  
  
Castiel beamed, leaning over instinctively to press a happy kiss to his husbands face. Cain returned it easily before quickly standing. As applause thundered around him he made his way to the stage. His emotions were a hot mess burning inside of him, pulling him in several directions but he kept his expression as a mix of delighted and surprised. He ascended the stairs, took his award from the woman holding it, offering her a one armed hug before he stepped before the microphone. His eyes found Castiel. His rock. The younger man was a ray of sunshine. So proud of Cain for this. He saw his husband raise his hands to give him a thumbs up. Cain ran a clammy hand through his wavy, wiry locks and let out a sigh.  
  
"Wow," he started, laughter evident in the word, "I really wasn't expecting this. I am so, so excited to be up here tonight holding this award for so many reasons. This movie has been a passion project of mine for so long I almost thought it would never see the light of day. To know its done, and out there in the world, and people are enjoying it? Thank you. Thank you to the fans for that, and everyone who stood by me through this never ending chapter of my life. Thank you to the studio, my parents, my friends and family. Thank you to Donna Hanscum and Benny Lafitte. You two were the most amazing actors I could ever ask for in lead roles. Thank you to Harry Spangler and Ed Zeddmore. If it weren't for you two I truly know this film never would have happened. You guys are amazing. And last but not least thank you to my absolutely wonderful husband Castiel. You are my best friend and my biggest fan. I am so excited to be able to share this award not only with you, my constant muse, but with our first child. I am so proud to stand up here and say that Castiel and I have decided to expand our family. We've already invited the surrogate into our home and a truly wonderful woman, thank you Anna Milton, is now carrying our soon to be son or daughter for us. Thank you God for this award and this opportunity."  
  
Cain kissed the award, held it out to Castiel as if to toast him, and then he was lead off the stage. He noticed the uproar of applause was not what it had been when he'd taken the stage. His body trembled when he reached the back stage area. He had known the reaction would be mixed and he was relieved that he hadn't been met with silence. A shaky breath he didn't realize he'd been holding escaped his lungs.  
  
 _Yes_ , Cain thought, _this was best for everyone_.   
  
No one needed to know that Castiel had never been anything more than a street kid who needed saving and Cain had been a lonely director who thought he could be the savior. No one needed to know that Anna Milton was not a surrogate but in reality Cain's real love interest, nearly half his age, carrying his child that had very much been conceived the old fashioned way. No. This was the safest situation for everyone involved.

Right?


	2. Meet The Wives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tuesday. Castiel hates Tuesday's. It means all the housewives are coming to his house for lunch. Lets meet them, shall we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! Feels like all this is is character introductions. I tried to keep it from getting too in depth and dragging on too long. Stick with me, folks! I promise it'll get better. 
> 
> As I said before this is only my second time writing and I've got major baby brain so please be brutal and honest with your reviews!

It was Tuesday. Castiel _hated_ Tuesday's. It was like he was stuck in the same day, destined to repeat it, endlessly. Why did he feel that way? Well that was simple. Tuesday's were the day his _friends_ came over. Truth be told they weren't all bad and Castiel did an amazing job of playing up the role, fitting in with them, convincing them all his relationship with Cain was still very much alive and real. He was like a real live celebrity housewife! The idea of having to play his role every single week though was beginning to grate on him. No. That wasn't true. It had been getting more and more tedious over the last few years. Yes. Ever since the oh-so-wonderful Bela had joined the group things had taken a turn. It was tough enough to deal with Abaddon on her own but when the second wicked witch had joined the pack they'd become a duo that took a little too much pleasure in acting like villains.   
  
"Good morning, sleeping beauty!"  
  
Castiel groaned. "Good morning, Anna. What time is it? Has Gabriel sho-"  
  
"Heeellooo baby brother."  
  
"Yes," Anna chuckled.   
  
Castiel let himself give in and opened his eyes to just slits. He had hoped he was still dreaming. Maybe he'd lucked out and slept through the dreaded day. 

Apparently he wasn't so lucky. It was later than he thought, though, if Gabriel was already around and Anna was in a good mood. She was not a morning person. He feared the moment morning sickness began to kick in. Oh she was going to be just peachy then!   
  
Castiel's fingers found his eyes, rubbed at them tiredly. "Alright," he began, and he held his arms out stretched into the open air, "help me up Gabriel and lets get this cooking show on the road."  
  
Gabriel was Castiel's older brother by eleven years. Sometimes the man exhausted him with his never ending stream of cheerfulness but every time Castiel found himself unimpressed with his brothers company he reminded himself how much effort Cain had put into locating the man. Castiel hadn't seen him since he was a teen when Gabriel left home to pursue a higher education. If you could really call learning to bake an education. Gabriel had always had a sweet tooth and with it came the need to make his own delicious confectionery creations. Now Gabriel had his own pastry shop that specialized in making over sized batches of sweet treats for the events of the rich and the famous. Cain had helped get that catering gig kick started too.   
  
_Just another thing he did for me_ Castiel found himself thinking as he was raised to his feet by his brother.   
  
"So what are you making today?" Anna chirped.   
  
Castiel let out a small laugh. "Are we already going to pretend you're eating for two?"  
  
"Hold your tongue! The woman _is_ eating for two," Gabriel chimed in, " _everyone_ is eating for two when it comes to my delicious food."  
  
He was in Castiel and Cain's closet now, digging around for something shabby enough to wear while they prepared the lunch for Castiel's pack of housewives, as he liked to refer to them. Eventually he reappeared with a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt.   
  
"Why always black, Gabriel?" Despite his protest Castiel was grabbing the t-shirt and pulling it over his head, followed by the loose fitting pants.   
  
"You know this, Cassie! It's black or white so we can see how much waste you've got going on." Gabriel should be teaching people how to cook, not just doing it himself. He had an eye for teaching people a lesson and insisted that Castiel wear something that would show every bit of flour or sugar or God knows what other ingredient on him so he could chastise him at the end for not being clean enough.   
  
"Alright, alright. Let me brush my teeth and have a coffee ready for me please. I'll be down shortly. Anna?"   
  
The woman's eyes snapped up at the mention of her name. She had been waiting patiently with her ass just barely on the edge of the bed, prepared to get up at any moment. "Yes Castiel?"  
  
"Would you like to help us today? If you're going to be living here full time now you should be much more visible and we should behave like an excited, cohesive unit. The idea that you enjoy cooking might be a good thing in the eyes of the housewives. Might make our story more believable."  
  
"Of course! I'd love to." With that Anna was up and out the door with Gabriel and Castiel was on his way to his bathroom for some freshening up.  
  
***  
  
The doorbell rang and behind it stood a face that made Castiel's insides scream with relief. Instantly his arms were around one of the men that now stood before him.  
  
"I"m _so_ glad you're here this week. You have no idea."   
  
Balthazar chuckled quietly as he returned the hug. "Oh I had to be here this week, Cassie. After what happened on Sunday night I knew we had much to discuss."   
  
"Ed," Castiel added as he pulled back from the embrace, "it's good to see you, too. Cain's in his study. He'll be glad to see you. You're the first to arrive so maybe you can talk shop a little before everyone else makes an appearance?"  
  
Ed Zeddmore nodded appreciatively at Castiel. His right hand came up to rest in the small of Balthazar's back. "Play nice," he murmured into his husbands neck, placing a small kiss there before he entered the home and took his immediate left out of the foyer and down a hallway littered with film posters, scripts, awards, and anything else Cain had received or achieved over the years.   
  
"Of course, darling," Balathzar called after the man, "always do." His eyes focused on Castiel's face before him, glided over his body, returned to his face. "Now, are we mad about this unfortunate plot twist? Or are we playing nice?" A pout pursed Balthazar's lips after the second question had passed them. He had such a flare for the dramatic.   
  
"Balthazar," Castiel warned. His voice was all gravel but there was no heat to it.   
  
Balthazar was going to do what Balthazar wanted to do and Castiel knew there was no stopping him. It was one of the reasons he appreciated the man. Balthazar liked to call himself a news anchor but in reality he was a host on one of those tacky celebrity news shows that was only watched because it was on during the dinner hour. He was a happy Hollywood husband as well to Ed Zeddmore, a producer and director who had been friends with Cain ever since they had started working on _The Executioner's Song_ when Ed was still brand new to the scene 8 years prior. Ed, only thirty-eight now, had married Balthazar who had just turned fifty-two in a televised ceremony that aired, of course, on a special, lengthier episode of the show that Balthazar hosted. Ed and Balthazar's union despite having a similar age gap to Castiel and Cain's had not sparked the same level of scandal. Castiel often thought Balthazar had been disappointed by that. He certainly was a fan of the lime light.  
  
"Oh Cassie," Balthazar sighed, "come on now. You know you'll have this conversation with me sooner or later. Who else will you tell? _Gabriel?_ " The left corner of Balthazar's lips turned up in what appeared to be a look of disgust but Castiel knew it was simply in jest. The two got on like peanut butter and jelly and thought the most exciting topic of their lives was Castiel.   
  
"Gabriel is in the kitchen still," Castiel answered and with that he was alone in the foyer, eyes rolling at the other mans mad dash for the kitchen the second he knew Gabriel was there to make lunch for the wives.   
  
***  
  
Thirty minutes later Cain's study, which was really just an over grown man cave, was filled with scotch and the voices of Cain, his dear friend Crowley McLeod who Castiel was never too sure about, Chuck Shurley who was always buzzing like an anxiety filled bee, Dick Roman who couldn't possibly have a more fitting first name, Harry Spangler who deserved much better than his miserable wife-to-be, and Ed Zeddmore. Normally the husbands didn't come on the Tuesday's but it was a special occasion. Everyone had done a bang up job the previous Sunday at the award show. It was a rare year for the whole group to take home awards in the same evening but that had all been thanks to Cain who had brought all of his friends in on a project that shocked everyone by winning every category it had been in. 

That used to bother Castiel, when one film would trample all the others. He used to think it was some scam by the Hollywood big wigs but when it had happened to his family his tune had abruptly changed.  
  
"Castiel." A sharp British accent yanked him from his day dreaming.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Are you with us? Or do you already have baby brain?"  
  
The cluster of girls laughed. Balthazar decided the moment he'd met Bela Talbot he didn't find her funny. Castiel, for that matter, couldn't stand her either. He did, however, decide to smile politely and offer an apology.  
  
"Oh," Lisa Braeden squealed, "so we're gonna talk about this? I'm so excited for you guys. I'm really glad we're talking about this!"   
  
"Yes," Castiel sighed, his eyes turning toward Anna who sat at the table with the two men and cluster of women for the first time, "if Anna is comfortable with it."  
  
"Of course," she replied softly. With that she plastered a large, forced smile onto her lips. "Why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"Does it really matter if she's comfortable or not?" Castiel's eyes turned abruptly to Abaddon, lips parting to answer her when another voice chimed in and Castiel's vision redirected to the second woman.  
  
"She's right. It's not really her choice now, is it? It's not like it's her baby," Bela added, a smirk playing across her painted lips.   
  
"It _is_ her choice. She's carrying this child for us and that means that anything she wants or doesn't want she will have. I refuse to make her uncomfortable."  Castiel's words came out low and he fixed every person at that table with a glare so cold ice would shiver.   
  
"My my," Bela muttered, "aren't we the hormonal bitch today."  
  
Castiel ignored the comment and leaned back in his chair. His fingers found his pair of sunglasses on the table and he slipped them on. He had every intention of silently judging the group and their reactions to Anna as she began fielding questions. He felt relieved that they were addressing her and wondering what it was like to be pregnant as opposed to hassling Castiel about the decision. He wouldn't have known where to begin. He hadn't thought quite that far ahead yet. As voices rang out his eyes began scanning the women at the table from his left to his right.  
  
Lisa Braeden-Shurley was next to Anna. She was absolutely beaming with excitement at the idea of a baby and already offering to watch the little one once they arrived. She had a son of her own, Ben, who was nineteen and currently in his first year of university. She was so proud of her son sometimes it was infectious. Sometimes it was unbelievable a teenager could be so well behaved but he had his parents to thank for that. Castiel liked Ben but it was clear for all to see that Lisa had struggled with watching him grow up and away from her. The previous September when Ben had decided to move into campus dorms to get the 'full' university experience had broken her heart. Chuck was always a good husband but he'd been so focused on finishing work on his newest indie flick _Swan Song_ that he hadn't been there to properly comfort Lisa through the tough time. Castiel knew he was smiling thinking about Lisa, Ben and Chuck. He had always hoped someday to have a family of his own. He didn't mind that he was going to in such a non-traditional sense. The idea of a baby was so overwhelming in the best way possible.   
  
Next to Lisa was Joanna Beth Harvelle-Lafitte. What a mouthful that was. Everyone simply called her Jo. She'd married Benny, the star of Cain's award winning film, nearly a year ago in the same backyard the group sat in now. She was a television executive who worked at the same network as Balthazar and she had easily become part of the group. She was a tough as nails, no nonsense woman. She was the female version of Benny in many ways and a huge advocate for the LGBT movement. She had become an activist for them when her mother Ellen Harvelle had come out to visit her and fallen for one of her coworkers, Jody Mills. Ellen had done a second bit of coming out to her daughter then too.   
  
Balthazar sat next to Jo, directly across from Castiel, and next to him was Abaddon Roman. She and her husband Dick had found the perfect partners in each other. They were both beautiful people who lived with a smirk on their faces that screamed _up to something bad_. At first Castiel had assumed Abaddon had married Dick, a writer, just to get movie roles but the part that got to Castiel the most about her was that she was amazing at what she did. She could be a ray of sunshine on film and the second the cameras weren't rolling she looked like she would be better suited as a knight of hell than a leading love interest in the latest chick flick. It made sense she should be sitting beside her best friend and evil cohort Bela. They were made for each other.  
  
Bela Talbot was engaged to Harry Spangler and Castiel had been silently praying every time he saw either of them that Harry would smarten up and leave the bitch. Castiel was well aware that Harry's best friend Ed felt the same way he did. That was the only downside to Harry anyone could ever find; he found women who needed fixing and he always believed he could be the one to fix them. Unfortunately, the only thing Bela wanted was the object with the highest price tag and there was no way Harry was ever going to fix that. She had a British accent and eyes that could make a puppy give in when she needed them too. Castiel found himself shaking his head, his internal monologue saying _the poor bastard_ when he thought of Harry having to go home with her tonight.   
  
Castiel tipped his head back, eyes closing behind the tint of his sunglasses as he listed to Anna talk about how far along she was.  
  
"Do you have any ultrasound pictures yet?"   
  
Jo was the one asking the question and Castiel took it as the perfect opportunity to interrupt.  
  
"Actually," he began, "we don't. But we're going to meet the best OBGYN I could find. I don't want Anna going to just anyone. I know it's relatively uncommon but the doctor happens to be male. Anna assured me she was comfortable with that before I contacted the office he works in to set up our first appointment. We're meeting him tomorrow."  
  
"Oh," Lisa cooed, "what's his name?"  
  
"Dean Winchester," Castiel answered.  



	3. Dean's Anatomy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Dean, his brother Sam, and learn a little about what the Winchester's are all about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots more character introductions. Now that we've finally got background on everyone it's time for the actual story to start. As always, please be brutally honest with me about the chapter and any mistakes are of course 100% my own.

"I'm tellin' ya, Sammy boy," Dean called from his kitchen, ducked down below the island looking for the cast iron skillet, "you're gonna chicken out."  
  
"Dean," Sam warned. His focus was directed out the window of the penthouse apartment, looking toward Los Angeles. Dean had been smart. He'd bought a luxurious, million dollar view but he'd bought it outside of the city and saved himself the million dollar price tag. Or, rather, he'd paid over a million, but under two, and knew if he'd purchased within the city limits the same kind of apartment would have put him in the four million range. Being baby doctor to the Hollywood elite came with a healthy income, but not so healthy he could justify living inside glitz-and-glamourwood.   
  
"Sam," Dean mocked.  
  
"You know," Sam hissed, spinning on his heels so he could make his way over to Dean, "you'd think my brother would offer me some support instead of being such a jerk-"  
  
"Bitch," Dean interrupted.  
  
Sam growled low in his throat, "instead of being such a jerk about me making this life changing decision." Sam had his lips set in a thin line, masking his true feelings of anxiety with a face that said _fuck you_.  
  
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, okay? You've just been saying this for, what? Six months now? If you're going to do it, do it." Dean turned away from Sam, shaking his head. He fixed his attention on the skillet that now sat on the stove, two steaks sizzling away within it. He reached up toward the spice rack, grabbing his go-to seasonings. "Geez if it took you that long to make up your mind on cases you'd never close any," Dean whispered.  
  
"Dean!" Sam snapped, "you do know I can hear you? Jesus Christ I don't know why you have to give me such a hard time about this! Don't you like Jessica?"  
  
Of course Dean liked Jessica. His younger brother, Sam, had been dating the lawyer since they'd met at Stanford twelve years earlier. Jessica Moore was the same age as Sam, thirty-two now, and Dean constantly wondered how the too-sweet, blonde bombshell was still with his brother. Twelve years and Sam had _just_ started talking to him six months prior about the idea of proposing to her. The woman had the patience of a saint. Maybe it had something to do with processing criminal law. She spent so much time with so many guilty, horrible people that patience was the virtue she was oozing.   
  
Sam was a fantastic man, though. Dean knew any woman would be lucky to have him. Dean loved to bust his balls but he was so proud of his brother it made his chest feel swollen with love. Especially now, excited he might see him finally marry the girl he was so obviously going to spend the rest of his life with. Sam was too book smart sometimes unfortunately. It was almost like he forgot at times he was more than just a man the size of just a moose in an expensive suit. He forgot he was more than just a defense attorney.  
  
"Course I like her," Dean scoffed. A smile played at his lips and he turned his head so Sam could catch a glimpse of it. "I can't wait to be your best man. Oh and the bachelor party..." Dean let the sentence drift away, open to interpretation, but his coy whistle told Sam exactly what he had in mind.  
  
Sam sighed, rolling his eyes, and moved around the island in Dean's kitchen to grab plates and utensils for their dinner.   
  
"You told Bobby yet? Linda?" Dean asked, turning the steaks.  
  
Bobby Singer was a mechanic from back home in Kansas where the boys had grown up before going off to college. He was their adoptive father. He'd taken the boys in when they were just young. When Sam had been six months old and the Winchester home had caught on fire the boys had been moved into the foster system. For a long while Sam and Dean had been told it was because their parents had perished in the fire. When they were old enough, however, Bobby and Linda had sat them down to explain that Mary and John Winchester were both alive and still incarcerated. When the boys had learned about their parents existence they'd made the choice together to reclaim their surname from birth. Dean swore to his family he would make the name Winchester have value and earn respect again.   
  
Their charges had included possession, child neglect, child endangerment, and, in an attempt by the courts to make an example of the pair, attempted murder.  
  
John and Mary had never intended to harm their children but when a fire started in the parents upstairs bedroom when a strung out Mary Winchester had let a candle burn too long and too hot in a weak attempt to conceal the sent of narcotics in the room it was nothing but luck that John was still alert enough in his own high to become panicked and remove the children and his wife from the home.   
  
After that day the boys had only been in the system for two weeks before Bobby, who had been John's employer only because he worried for the children, and his wife Linda Tran, had the paperwork done and the boys in their custody.   
  
Linda was a kindergarten teacher. She'd gone through the schooling to be a high school physics teacher but when she met Bobby by chance when her car broke down on her last-hoorah-before-her-career-began road trip that happened to pass through Kansas, she had met a gruff, grumpy old mechanic she simply couldn't leave behind. At the time, the only position available that was considered to be in her field in the area had been as a kindergarten teacher. Linda had taken the job and never looked back. The year Dean was five she drove him to her class, taught him with her other students, then took him home picking little Sammy up from daycare on the way. She had barely finished that year of teaching, so swollen from pregnancy that she had been reduced to only teaching class for half a day before another teacher came in the afternoons to relieve her of her duties. Luckily, most of her kindergarten students only attended a half day of school anyway.   
  
That summer, Kevin was born. Two years younger than Sam, the newest edition to the Singer-Tran household was loved fiercely by his older brothers from the moment he arrived. Now, thirty years later, Kevin had also moved from Kansas to California and he ran an overgrown night club in the city. Kevin, who had decided at the age of thirteen he was bisexual and that was the end of it, ran a gay club called _Twisted_. The upper floor held a stage that was used for live bands, karaoke, and of course _Drag Night._ A large bar spanned the left side of the building. The rest of the upper floor featured cages for dancers, platforms for dancers, a massive dance floor and towards the opposite end of the stage a smaller seating area with booths, tables, and stools for the tamer guests. For the really tame guests the lower floor held the bathroom and a much smaller, more intimate seating area. The bar was short, there was a stage just big enough for one person at a time, and the music was a low hum. The couples who just wanted a fun night out without going too outrageous could be found downstairs. So could Kevin, who spent much of his time in the office that was located down there as well.   
  
Bobby was sixty-six now and Linda fifty-five. The couple had begun to wonder if they'd ever see any of their children settle down in the traditional sense. Dean knew the couple hoped to have grandchildren and Bobby had once made the comment that he worried that might not happen before he died.  
  
"No, I wanted to wait until Jessica said yes before I got their hopes up."  
  
"Sammy," Dean started, placing a steak on his brothers plate, "you know she's going to say yes. Get a ring, get on one knee, and then get on the phone." Dean's words were final. He had authority in him. He'd gotten his tough attitude from Linda just as much as from Bobby.   
  
"Yeah, okay okay. So I guess we're skipping the formalities of me asking you to be my best man?"   
  
Dean snorted, raised a fork to point it at Sam across the table, "if you even think about making it anyone else Jess is going to representing me because I'll kill you."  
  
"Do you think it would be too many people if I asked Adam, Michael, Kevin, and Garth to stand up for me? Be groomsmen?"   
  
Dean raised and lowered one shoulder, a half shrug. "I guess that depends on how big of a wedding you guys plan to have. I guess Garth could be more like an usher or something if you want to include him without having him up there with you. He's a weird guy but people like him. I think he'd be good at that kind of thing."  
  
Adam and Michael Milligan were Dean and Sam's biological cousins. Adam, the younger of the two brothers, worked for Kevin at the nightclub while Michael worked in the same hospital and out patient facility that Dean did as a registered nurse. Adam was a little firecracker, full of life and energy. He was a year younger than Kevin and they'd been instant best friends when the Milligan family had reconnected with Sam and Dean a few years after the Winchester trial. Michael, thirty-four, was smack dab between Sam and Dean for age and had taken to Dean more than he had Sam in their younger years. He looked up to the oldest Winchester. They all remained extremely close and had all moved out to California when they grew up.  
  
Garth Fitzgerlad IV (the fourth) was a skinny, awkward man that looked like he had no business being in a court room. He looked almost sickly and had a streak of nerd in him so long Dean was surprised he had chosen law instead of living in his parents basement waiting for the next comic con to roll into town. Once he stepped into a court room, however, it was like a switch was flipped. His intelligence was so overwhelming it was electric and at thirty-eight years old he was yet to lose a single case. Sam looked up to him as a colleague and appreciated him as his best friend.   
  
"You know the second I invite Charlie your whole office is going to want to come though, right? I mean, Michael can keep a secret, but we all know Charlie will lose her shit."   
  
Dean nodded affectionately, "yeah, probably. But fuck that. You're getting married, not me and not Michael. If you invite Charlie, you know you'll get Meg as well but if anyone else starts giving me or Michael flack about it you know we'll taken them down a peg."  
  
"I appreciate that. I don't want this to be the kind of thing where we just invite everybody we know, close or not."  
  
"Acourse," Dean muttered around a forkful of mashed potatoes he had previously made and reheated to go along side their steaks, "now shut up and eat your dinner."  
  
Charlie Bradbury was another OBGYN that worked in the same office as Dean. They were fast friends and when she had started coming to Dean's apartment to hang out off the clock she'd fallen in with Sam as well. The tiny redhead was the most jovial, geeky person Dean had ever encountered. She was the perfect person to be working with pregnant woman. No matter what her spirits were high and that attitude was infectious. The women who came into the office loved her.   
  
Meg Masters was the polar opposite of Charlie. She was snarky, dark haired, rounded and curvy in the places where Charlie was thin and sharp. She seemed like she had no business working with pregnant women or children when you first encountered her but her sarcastic, blunt approach comforted women. Where Charlie built them up, Meg kept them realistic. Maybe all those differences were why Charlie had fallen in love with Meg. Maybe the bubbly personality that Meg could never have is why she'd fallen in love with Charlie.   
  
"So," Dean said as he removed the now empty plates from the table so he could put them into the dish washer, "our receptionist? Becky? Yeah, she says I'm getting a new patient tomorrow. A celebrity. She wouldn't tell me who though."  
  
"Oh yeah? No hints?"  
  
"Nope," Dean shrugged, "just said it would blow my mind."


	4. Call Me Dean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel takes Anna to her first appointment with Dr. Winchester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a little longer to get out. The baby is making sure I know who's in charge. I'll do my best to keep up a good pace though! As always, take pity on me and leave feedback.

Castiel held the door open to allow Anna through and followed her quickly up the reception desk in the off site office the obstetrics team used. There was a team of five doctors, seven back up doctors, and several nurses. Most people met all five to be prepared for the event their favored doctor wasn't working or able to deliver the baby on their expected due date but Castiel had requested they only meet with Dr. Winchester as he had done excessive amounts of research and found he had five star reviews across the board from previous patients and had several degrees for several medical positions and had specifically chosen this one. Castiel knew that things were different now, not like when he had been born where you had only one doctor but he liked the old fashioned way and with all the accolades this doctor had Castiel knew he was safe.  
  
"Hello," the girl behind the desk chirped, "you're- I'm Becky! It's so exciting to have you here, Mr. Firstson! We're all so very glad you've picked our team. Well, I guess not our whole team. Specifically Dr. Winchester. He's really happy about that. Can't wait to meet you! Actually, he doesn't know you're coming yet. But if-"  
  
"Anna," Anna injected, "he's going to be _my_ doctor," she added. A soft smile graced her lips as Becky sucked her bottom one in. It was a gesture that looked familiar on her face, like perhaps she went off on rants on a very regular basis.   
  
"Right," Becky stated sharply. A moment later her hand thrust forward with a sealed plastic cup in it. "Urine samples are collected before every appointment so try to have a full bladder when you arrive. Bathroom is on your left. You can have a seat once you're done and a nurse will come and get you."  
  
"Thank you," Castiel and Anna answered. Anna took the cup, found her way to the bathroom. Castiel sat, anxious, in an empty chair as he waited for her return.   
  
Moments after Anna had taken a seat beside him, looking perhaps just as nervous as he did, a door to the right of them swung open and revealed a handsome young man. Castiel sucked in a breath at the sight. Short brown hair, slicked to the side, a bit of a natural wave to it. His skin was tanned, flawless, and his lips pulled back in the perfect amount of smooth grace when he smiled his way into the waiting room. If Cas wasn't supposed to be a respectable married man he would have found himself asking the man out for a drink.  
  
"Anna Milton?" He asked, and Anna and Castiel rose from their seats to follow him through the door.   
  
"Hello," Anna greeted, standing stock still in the middle of the room once the door swung shut behind her.   
  
"Please," the man started, sweeping an arm out to his left where there was a scale and a lonely chair. "Have a seat. We'll start with your blood pressure."   
  
Anna sat down, followed the instruction, stared up at the posters on the walls that all spoke of the risks of smoking, drinking, or using drugs while pregnant.  
  
"Shoes off, up on the scale please. It's in kilograms, but once we've got that recorded, you can press the pounds button if you'd like to see what it works out to."  Anna nodded shortly at the information, watched the scale stop at a number.  
  
"I've only gained two pounds," she said softly.   
  
"Yes," the beautiful man answered, "you won't gain it as fast as everyone leads you to believe. In fact, most women gain far more than they ever needed because they actually attempt to eat for two when in reality you only need about another five hundred calories a day. Weight gain is important but too much is unhealthy. Okay. You can put your shoes back on and follow me."  
  
All the while Castiel had stood and stared, taking in his surroundings, absorbing the tiny bits of knowledge he could from the mans words. He followed Anna into the first room on the left and took the chair to the right of her as they both sat across a desk from the man who was clicking his way into something on the desktop that stood before him, ancient in its cube shaped glory.  
  
"So my name is Michael," the man finally introduced, "I'm one of the nurses here. It's my understanding that rather than meet our whole team you've specifically asked to have Dr. Winchester as your OB. That's fairly rare so we'll do our best to make scheduling appointments as easy as possible but you may not get as many options for time slots as you'd hoped. We've got a lot to go over today since it's your first time at the office and once you're done Dr. Winchester will meet with you."  
  
Anna nodded. Castiel flattened a palm gently on the desk, clearing his throat softly to direct some attention his way. Before he could say anything though Michael laughed, his face splitting into a beautiful smile that left Castiel stunned into silence.  
  
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so rude as to not ask you for an introduction but Becky, our receptionist, already made sure the whole office knew who was coming in today. If anyone didn't know who Castiel Firstson was yesterday, they certainly do today. It's nice to meet you. Will your husband be coming in for any of the appointments?"  
  
"No. Cain is very busy so I will be bringing Anna at least for the time being. Perhaps when she's farther along he'll be able to come."  
  
"Great." Michael smiled again, directed his eyes back to Anna. "Lets get started."  
  
Ten minutes of questions on her overall health, her pregnancy precautions so far, and her general background later Michael had finished tapping away at his keyboard. He turned to her, a look of uncertainty tainting his eyes.  
  
"Do you know who the father is?" He asked slowly.  
  
"What?" Castiel hissed, feeling Anna stiffen beside him.  
  
"I'm sorry! I need to include information on the father as well. What I meant was, did you and your husband both offer specimens to implant in the egg, or did only one of you?"   
  
Castiel relaxed, the lightest coloring passing over his cheeks. "Oh," he muttered.  
  
"Cain," Anna answered. "He provided the only viable sample."  
  
Castiel turned his eyes sideways, catching Anna in profile. He hadn't thought about this question and was relieved Anna had prepared an appropriate answer even if it did imply he couldn't father a child.  
  
A handful of Cain related questions later Michael was finally satisfied, told Anna how to wear a seat belt going forward, what to avoid doing and ingesting, and the two were out the door and being lead into another room. This one, instead of looking like an office, was an examination room with two chairs, an exam table, and a stool that was tucked neatly under a small desk that housed a monitor.   
  
"Dr. Winchester will be with you shortly," Michael informed them before shutting the door on his way out.  
  
"You need to relax, Castiel," Anna chastised.   
  
"I'm sorry. I just believed I was more prepared for this than I am. I didn't know there was going to be so many questions. I didn't even consider the idea of how using a surrogate even worked. The idea was mine yet I didn't do the proper research to ensure I was ready for questions pertaining to it."  
  
Anna sighed, laid a hand on Castiel's shoulder as he let himself sink into one of the chairs. "It's okay. We know now. You can go home and do more research right after this if you want."  
  
Castiel turned the corners of his lips up in a small smile. He did enjoy researching things in his spare time.  
  
A short knock interrupted their hushed conversation and a moment later a God among men was standing before them.  
  
The God smiled at them, closed the door behind himself. "Hello," he greeted, "I'm Dr. Dean Winchester. You must be Castiel and Anna. Please," Dean gestured at the examination table, "hop on up and pull your shirt up to just below your bra so I can measure you."  
  
Anna obliged easily, laying backwards and rolling her t-shirt upward.   
  
"So," Dean said, his back now to Castiel as he pulled a tape measure from Anna's pelvis to the base of her sternum, "first baby?"   
  
Castiel couldn't pull his eyes away and heard none of the conversation between the doctor and Anna. He watched as the doctor's muscles shifted below his tight dress shirt when he moved. After he set the tape measure aside he began to press gently at Anna's still flat torso and with every press inward of his fingers Castiel could glimpse his forearms twitching with raw strength. His eyes drifted the span of him, took in the slight bow of his legs, the wideness of his shoulders, the wet sand color of his hair.  
  
Castiel watched him extend a broad hand to Anna, watched him help to pull her into a sitting position.   
  
"Are you booking ultrasounds through us or do you have them already set up at another office?" Dean asked, his eyes passing from Anna to Castiel as he took a seat on the rolling stool.  
  
"I've booked them," Castiel rasped. He cleared his throat, attempted to clear the mental haze he'd developed when Dean's emerald eyes had found their way to meeting his azure ones. "I wanted to ensure she was going to a clinic that specialized in fetal ultrasounds only instead of one of the offices that simply houses technicians that perform all kinds of exams."  
  
Dean nodded, swung in the chair, typed away at the monitor, swung back.  
  
"Do you have any questions for me right now?"  
  
"Yes, actually. I need to know Anna is getting the best care possible and I understand we've already been more selective than most parents-to-be with making sure we only see one doctor and I read many reviews on you and they all seem to be positive but I find it very odd that there is multiple males working on this one team. It's my understanding that your nurses also come with you to the hospital to assist in the deliveries. Do they rotate? Or will Michael, the nurse we've met, be the one that assists you?"  
  
"We rotate them."  
  
"That won't do. I don't want Anna to have added stress by having her body and the baby handled by strangers."  
  
Dean's eyes were hard, a flash of defiance in them. "Well," he grunted, "we can make sure that the nurse that assists me is the one you have every time you come in. It will make scheduling your appointments very difficult, though."   
  
"That's fine. We'd prefer to know who was handling us from here on out. Which nurse do you like best in your practice?"  
  
Dean blanched. Castiel could tell he was dealing with some sort of internal battle. It seemed he didn't want to pick a specific nurse. In a field normally dominated by women Castiel could only imagine the amount of gossip that flooded a workplace such as this. He was fully aware he was putting the doctor in an uncomfortable predicament.  
  
"Michael," Dr. Winchester answered eventually.  
  
Castiel set his shoulders back, sat ridged in his chair, tall and bold. "You're both male. Are you both objective?"  
  
 _"Excuse me?"_  
  
"Castiel-" Anna began.  
  
Castiel raised a hand, demanded silence with it.  
  
"Anna is a very beautiful girl. I don't need her doctor or nurse acting inappropriately towards her. It's very uncommon to have only males handling this type of situation. How can I be sure?"  
  
Dean barked out a laugh, low and bitter. "Mr. Firstson, I assure you that Michael and I are both extremely professional and you have nothing to worry about."  
  
"Why Michael?" Castiel added, leaning backwards in his chair. Nothing about his posture seemed assured or relaxed. He seemed to be challenging Dean with his questions.   
  
"Well, he's extremely good at what he does and if you're forcing me to pick just one person from my practice to be your nurse through this pregnancy I think picking my cousin makes the most sense," Dean answered with a shrug. A smirk turned up one corner of his mouth, a challenge he sending right back. He folded his hands in his lap and planted his feet firm and flat on the tiled floor. He began to sway lightly back and forth on the stool.   
  
His cousin. Castiel nearly laughed. Beauty apparently ran in that family.   
  
"Anna being a surrogate she isn't involved with anyone," Castiel said swiftly, not chancing a glance at Anna to see if she'd been able to school her expression, "you can absolutely guarantee that you and your cousin won't flirt with her? She's young, she's attractive, she won't be at home with a child after this. She will get her body back and be just as much a free agent as she was before her gracious offering of her womb for us. I don't see wedding rings on either of you."  
  
Anna made a soft noise of shock across the room from him and Castiel was sure he could feel the warmth radiating off of her from heated cheeks, flushed with embarrassment. He didn't care. Not only did he want to make sure he was getting the best care but he wanted to make sure his _bitchy housewife_ facade held up around these strangers. He couldn't suddenly drop his faux sense of entitlement at being Cain's husband just because Anna was pregnant.  
  
"I can only speak for myself when I say that Anna is a lovely woman but she doesn't house the appropriate appendages for my interests," Dean stated, the smallest fleck of pink touching his high cheek bones. His tanned and freckled skin looked as if it were glowing. He cleared his throat nervously and if he hadn't Castiel felt he may have made a very inappropriate noise of excitement upon hearing that the doctor was homosexual. "Michael, however, can answer the question himself should you feel the need to ask him."  
  
"Right," Castiel nodded, "thank you very much. Anna? Do you have anything to ask Dr. Winchester?"  
  
"No," Anna whispered, hands folded against her stomach. She unfolded them briskly, pushing herself off of the examination table and stepping down once again with the assistance of Dr. Winchester's soft looking hands.  
  
"Dean," he said, his attention all directed at Anna, "if we're going to be seeing each other on a regular basis for the next eight months you should get used to calling me Dean. We aren't so formal here."  
  
"Dean," Anna repeated, smiling cheerfully, "thank you so much for being our doctor." She turned to Castiel fully and cocked her head to the side. "Shall we?"  
  
Castiel nodded, rising to his feet. With nurses like Michael and doctors like Dean it was going to be a very long eight months. 


	5. First Name Basis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel tests Dean's professionalism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one sucks. It's more bitchy Cas, Dean showing off a little bit of what Dean does in his spare time, and a ton of dialogue about being preggers that willbe relevant in later chapters. I promise. Pity me. I'm also going to steal a bit from my pregnancy experience for this and that was pretty fuckin' dramatic :D It's also pretty short

Dean sighed, sat himself down at the bar stool beside Charlie. He felt like he was cheating, going to the timid Irish pub down the block from the hospital he spent half his time at, but Dean went there when he was simply too tired to head over to his adoptive brother Kevin's club. It happened more than he liked to admit but he knew Kevin didn't mind.   
  
"Hey Sunshine," she mocked, smirk tugging at her lips. "What's the haps?"  
  
"You can't even imagine, Chuckles," he snapped.   
  
"Aww," Charlie cooed, "was _Mrs. Cain Firstson_ all we've seen on TV and more?"  
  
Dean shook his head, shot a glare in her direction. He raised a hand to gather the attention of the bar tender so he could order a much needed drink. "Seriously," he began, turning half way on the stool to face her head on, "he was such a bitch."  
  
Charlie laughed, head tilted forward so her short red hair cradled her pale face beautifully. "Oh Dean," she began and reached a hand out to place it comfortingly on the mans shoulder, "did you really expect anything different? They claim reality shows are scripted but I don't think you can fake that kind of piss poor attitude."  
  
"I know, I know," he sighed, "but he got himself off that show after one season. I thought maybe it was 'cause he wasn't as horrible as the other people. I thought _maybe_ he decided he was above all that drama and _maybe_ it really was all scripted. I mean how can someone so cute be so vile?"   
  
Charlie found herself still laughing and removed her hand from Dean so she could grip the neck of the two bottles of beer Dean had ordered them. "The cute ones always are the meanest, Dean. I mean look at Meg."   
  
Dean had to join in her laughter as he also reached for his bottle. "Yeah, Char, whatever you say." Dean tipped the bottle to his lips and let his eyes flicker closed as the cool bubbles hit his lips.  "Is she coming to meet us?"  
  
"Nah, she's pulling a twelve today. She left the office at noon to head over to the hospital. She's not done for another hour. We're drinking far too early, Dean."   
  
"Yeah," he nodded, "I have to look at _icky vagina's_ all day," Dean teased, "what's your excuse?"  
  
"I have to _just_ look at vagina's all day," Charlie answered. She took another sip of her beer.  
  
***  
  
"Hello, Anna," Dean greeted as let himself into the examination room. "You had an ultrasound last week, correct?" Dean moved to his computer, passing Castiel on the way. He heard a sharp cough and turned on his heel so his eyes were visible to Castiel. "Hello to you too, Mr. Firsts-"  
  
" _Castiel_ ," he corrected, "If you're _Dean_ and she's _Anna_ because we're going to all be seeing a lot of each other over the next seven and a half months you should be calling me by my first name too, don't you think?"  
  
"Oh," Dean sighed, "are you going to be coming to every appointment? Anna is still more than able to drive herself. You can drive for your entire pregnancy, you know. She's not an invalid." Dean punctuated the last sentence with a hint of laughter to his voice so his comment wouldn't come off as serious as it was. He couldn't picture himself dealing with an endless supply of sass coming from the dark haired man for the better part of the next year.  
  
"Considering Anna is our surrogate and therefore this baby is mine more than it is hers I think I should be here if Cain can't be. What kind of father would I be if I wasn't following the growth of my child?"  
  
"A normal one," Dean responded, taking a seat on his little spinning stool. "Most fathers don't come for every appointment. Most can't get the time off work. But I guess you don't really work, do you, _Castiel_?"  
  
Castiel scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. He huffed out a breath like a child about to begin a tantrum.  
  
"Yes," Anna supplied, hopping onto the examination table where she proceeded to roll up her shirt. "We had an ultrasound last week."  
  
"Fantastic! We'll look over the results of that as soon as we're done getting your measurements. How are you feeling? Any symptoms so far?" Dean's fingers worked delicately as they stretched the tape measure over the span of Anna's milky skin. His fingers pressed into the sides of her belly gently, nearly in a massaging motion once he was finished with her measurement.   
  
"Good," she began, "why do you do that?"  
  
"We want to ensure that everything feels the way it should. As you get bigger and baby does too we'll start to be able to feel their position inside you this way as well as know where the placenta has formed based on where your tummy feels hardest. As you grow you'll become firm very likely all over your tummy but some women, if the placenta forms at the top of the womb or towards the back, will still have soft flesh above the pelvis or even all over. It'll also impact your ability to feel babies movements in certain locations. Symptoms?"  
  
"Actually, none really. I don't think so, anyway? I've felt a touch nauseous in the morning but haven't actually thrown up. Scents are just stronger. No cravings or anything yet. Maybe I've enjoyed a couple more sweets than usual but our part time chef, Gabriel, is teaching me how to bake and I can't help but taste test the creations."  
  
Dean nodded, typing away at his computer. His body was half turned so it was clear to Castiel and Anna that he was still listening. His fingers found his mouse and moved it along to open up a report. He skimmed quickly and clicked everything closed again. Spinning on his heels he gracefully plunked down onto his stool once again.   
  
"Ultrasound looks good. Everything's growing at a nice rate so far. Very on par for the average size at this point in pregnancy. Good to hear about the very mild symptoms but be careful with the sweets. As we enter the second trimester you'll have to do some blood tests to screen for gestational diabetes. It's not a super common occurrence but you don't want those extra sugars taking over right now. That won't help baby stay nourished and it's quite rare but in some cases if women do develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy they don't always get back to not having it once baby arrives and I don't think you want to risk poking yourself through pregnancy and possibly the rest of your life because you gave yourself diabetes."   
  
"I really don't think Anna's so unhealthy she'd develop diabetes, doctor." Castiel tipped his chin up, tipped his head to the side to observe the doctor in profile.   
  
"This kind of diabetes has nothing to do with a persons pre-pregnancy health. It can happen to any woman, any age, any weight. It just has to do with the bodies internal chemistry changing. You should be very appreciative of Anna for carrying this child for you. Pregnancy isn't easy. The body may look the same after but it's never one hundred percent the same once it has carried and birthed a child. She's a very brave woman to go through this process for you."   
  
Dean offered Anna an affectionate smile.  
  
"Yes," Castiel murmured, "so gracious of her." His eyes locked onto Anna, cold and hard. She seemed to shrink under the scrutiny.   
  
"Well," Dean coughed out, "I'll see you in two weeks. You take good care of yourself, Anna."  
  
With that Dean left the room, eyes narrowed to slits. He made his way over to the nurses desk and leaned over it, fingers gripping the edges tight. "I don't know if I can do it, Mike," he muttered.  The door to the room he'd just been in opened and the duo walked out. Anna and Dean exchanged a smile before they were gone. Dean managed to release a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. " _Seriously_ ," he sighed, "that guy is such a dick. This chick is carrying a baby for him and his husband and he treats her like he's a  full of herself mother and she's some clueless teenager who got herself knocked up!"  
  
"I don't know what to tell you," Michael answered, sympathetic eyes turned upward at his cousin. "He's not especially fond of me either. Do you know what he asked me today? Would I be appropriate with Anna."   
  
Dean laughed, slamming one of his hands onto the desk top, "you're kidding me! Awe shit he asked me that last visit. Told him if he wanted to know to ask you himself. Can't believe that prick actually did it. What did you say?"  
  
Michael shrugged, lips tugging up in a humored smirk, "that I'm a patient man and I can wait eight months."  
  
"Oh you sick bastard," Dean retorted. The cousins shared a round of jovial laughter. Maybe these next seven and a half months wouldn't be so bad after all.


	6. Patience Is A Virtue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna is four months pregnant, it's a Tuesday, and Castiel has had just about enough of his so called friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby decided to actually nap for once during the day so I'm pumping out as much writing as I can before he wakes! We've had a little bit of a time jump here. Don't worry. I swear we're getting to the meat of the story sooner than it likely seems at this point.   
> This is also usually where I give up on writing anything long, so if you're thinking it's worth continuing leave me a comment and let me know. Motivation is sometimes needed.

Castiel passed an open bedroom door. They'd been in this house for seven years and though he knew his bedroom was considered the true master bedroom, what with its gargantuan closet and futuristic-yet-spa like bathroom, he still wondered what you would call the bedroom Anna and Cain shared. It was nearly as large as Castiel's, with a closet that still trumped any closet he'd ever seen before and a large en suite that didn't house the same sort of over the top technology his did (he had a small television built into the mirror for Christ sake), but still made those peaceful day spas people shelled out hundreds of dollars for look like they'd been built by IKEA.   
  
"You look radiant," Cain was saying as Castiel had passed and he smiled cheerfully. They were just over four months into the pregnancy and things were still going well but Anna had begun to put on some weight now and though she still hardly showed, her hormones were telling her she looked fat.   
  
It was Tuesday, again, and though Cas normally held a strong disdain for the day he was in a particularly good mood. Donna Hancsum and her fiance Raphael Finnerman were coming over, as were Benny and Jo. Though Jo normally came every Tuesday for the ladies lunch she rarely brought her husband Benny with her. Benny and Donna had starred in Cain's award winning masterpiece and had yet to come by for a celebration. Castiel knew Benny avoided his home like the plague as he had no stomach for the women that Jo spent her time with and Donna and Raphael, who had become engaged six months prior, had been busy planning their wedding. Truth be told, Castiel thought Donna held the same level of disinterest in his _friends_ as Benny did.   
  
It was always summer in L.A. as far as Castiel was concerned, and he was always dressed comfortably for the one season he lived in now. Today was a pair of black linen slacks, rolled up just enough to expose his ankles. He wore beige loafers, Italian leather of course, and a striped t-shirt that looked like one you could buy at the Gap but he had paid well over one hundred dollars for it at some designer boutique because oh no, he wasn't wearing a mass produced striped shirt. He was wearing a hand crafted one that claimed to have been dyed and sprayed down when semi-dry to get it's _authentic_ faded look.  
  
He felt good. He looked good. Today was going to be more tolerable than most Tuesday's, he told himself.

Castiel strode into his backyard, padding silently over to the table that housed the flock of women. He offered a bright smile, teeth perfect and white, face shaved to have a perpetual five o'clock shadow, and slipped his apple red, limited edition Wayfarers over his eyes. Had to protect those baby blues from the glaring sun, after all.  
  
"Don't you seem happy!" Donna's voice had a mid western twinge to it, a sort of homey accent that made Castiel feel comfortable and warm. She was too sweet to be in Hollywood, he thought.  
  
"I am," Castiel replied smoothly. His fingers found the pitcher on the middle of the table that housed a large batch of Long Island Iced Tea, "next ultrasound they said we'll be able to learn the gender of the baby."  
  
"Oh," Lisa squealed at the same time as Donna replied "gosh".  
  
"Are you sure you want to know the gender?" Castiel sighed at the sound of Bela's voice.  
  
"Yeah," Abaddon quipped, ever the second sentence to Bela. The more time the women were together, the more they became one brain. "What if it's a boy? How are you going to explain yourselves to him?"  
  
Castiel's eyes lowered to slits behind his Ray-Bans, "and what, exactly, do you mean by that?" His voice was acid.  
  
"Oh come on, Cas, don't get testy with me. Don't you think it'll all be very confusing for him?" Abaddon's words had a hint of cheer to them. She loved getting under his skin. He may not take part in the Real Housewives reality series anymore but Abaddon and Bela had reoccurring guest spots and they loved to talk about his life. _Pity their own lives are so boring_ he thought.   
  
"No," he gritted out. He tore his sunglasses from his face at the same moment Anna appeared in the empty chair next to him. She'd arrived with a grin, clearly over her morning bout of self loathing, but the smile wiped itself from her face the moment her eyes caught Castiel's. "I think, _Abby_ ," he sneered, knowing how the woman despised the nickname, "that a child will grow up understanding what they are taught. I have no concerns that if I were to have a son he would be gay simply because I am. You are the product of your parents and their actions, not their orientations."   
  
"Is that so?" She volleyed back, "so your parents were lippy, spoiled twats, were they?"  
  
Castiel's eyes caught the smirk that was gracing Bela's face in the same second they caught the blank expressions that fell across the faces of Lisa and Donna. Oh how he wished Balthazar was there right now. He'd be on Castiel's side, he'd weather the storm with him.   
  
"I don't know," Castiel answered, "were yours an insipid succubus and a half wit villain?" Abaddon's lips parted for an answer but Castiel stood abruptly, metal feet of his chair groaning as they scraped against the stone patio. His palms pressed flat against the frosted glass table and he leaned forward, ominous and threatening to loom dangerously close to the red haired, red lipped she-devil across from him. "I hope you and _Dick_ never have a child. I would truly fear for its mental stability and know that if you two ever do reproduce that your off spring will never be welcome around my child," Castiel spat.   
  
The air hung thick, the shoulders of nature still hissing away around them. It was as if gasoline was leaking into their proximity and if one little match went off the entire situation would explode, sending women scattering everywhere. No one at the table moved, no one seemed to breath.   
  
Thankfully, a slow southern drawl broke through the fog surrounding the group.  
  
"Hello ladies. Castiel," came Benny Lafitte's oddly smooth yet somehow rough voice. "Anna, you're lookin' mighty well."  
  
That was all he said and he was back inside, Jo seemingly an apparition taking form at Castiel's right side. For a moment she was silent and then she chanced it; "what did I miss?"  
  
"Nothing," Castiel grunted, falling harshly back into his seat.   
  
"Yes," Abaddon whispered, eyes fixed on Castiel's until he raised his sunglasses and slid them back onto his face, "nothing at all."  
  
"Great!" Jo piped loudly and she hefted herself onto the table.   
  
The table was silent for a long moment as everyone let the tension ease from them.   
  
"So, what doctor did you go to for, you know, the whole in vitro thing?" Donna asked.  
  
Castiel could hear the word "what?" leave his mouth but in that moment he was suspended inside his own head. Everything clouded over in a dark haze of question. What did Donna know? Why was she asking? Could this just be friendly banter? How was he going to get himself out of this situation? So much for all his plans. So much for his life. The secret was going to be out. Donna, in all her sweet cluelessness, was going to be the woman that unraveled his story.  
  
"Why do you ask?" Anna said softly, dragging Castiel away from his jumble of terrified questions.  
  
"Oh! Raphael and I have been thinkin' about having a baby. Well, more like we've been trying to have one for a while now and we're just not having the luck we need. Seems the three of you got it all figured out nice and simple and quick, unless it was just a hush hush process that did take forever, and Raphy said maybe, if we're taking that next step anyways to try some assistance, we should be asking someone who we're seeing success from right before our eyes who they went to."   
  
Castiel felt his bones goes jelly inside his body. He had been so terrified and though Donna's question was pure innocence and he felt terrible for her situation he had absolutely no idea how to respond.

Anna had saved his ass previously when topics of this kind had come up, would she have an answer now?  
  
"I'd be happy to tell you, Donna, but I feel that kind of discussion isn't the best for lunch. Do you think it would be alright if we talked about it after our meals?" Anna's voice was flawless. No hint of deception in it. Nothing but comfort and grace. Castiel would need to thank her later.  
  
"Oh of course, you betcha," Donna chirped back.  
  
Anna quietly excused herself to the bathroom, taking her time to keep her steps evenly paced and not give away her need to rush. Castiel _really_ needed to thank her, knowing she'd stepped away to quickly look up a doctor in the area who performed such procedures. She was catching onto the Hollywood life style of lying through your teeth quickly.   
  
When she returned Castiel slipped a hand to her thigh under the table and gave a tender squeeze. From the corner of his eye he could see one side of her mouth tilt upward in a gesture that meant _you're welcome_ before they both dipped into their lunch.   


	7. Walk Up In The Club Like What Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel and Dean both unwind after the long week at the club. Or maybe they just wind themselves up more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter titles are always a weird shout out to things. This one is to Macklemore. Love me some Macklemore. Two chapters in one day? This is madness! This is Sparta. Anyway, this one alternates POV's with asterisks (and passing of time). Hopefully two chapters so close together don't end being complete and utter garbage but thank Chuck my baby slept lots today so I just kept going.

"Sup Kevin?" Dean placed his cellphone on the counter top beside him so he could continue preparing coffee as he spoke to his youngest brother.  
  
"Hey Dean! So I know you're not really a fan of coming to the club and doing the whole showy thing but there's this guy, and he's a TV guy, and he's been talking to me about doing like a whole special about the club and it would mean a lot to me if the club was really packed when he came so that he would really think it was the place to be, you know? I mean not that the club isn't busy! There's just no harm in making it look busier, right?"   
  
Dean glanced down at his phone, smiled at the excitement and nerves he could hear tumbling through it.  
  
"Sure, Kev. I'll come. As long as I'm not on hospital duty, of course. When?"   
  
"You're the best, Dean! This Saturday. Oh and I know that it's pretty hard to ask more of you but-"  
  
"I'll make Charlie and Meg come too, don't worry. I'm sure Adam already asked Michael but I'll drag his ass along as well if I can. Okay?"  
  
"Thanks!" Kevin hung up before Dean could say more. He smiled, locking his screen. He loved Kevin's never ending energy. Linda and Bobby had worked so hard to make sure he got the best schooling possible and Kevin had been the perfect A+ student but that still couldn't stop him from going his own way. Kevin thrived in the chaos of running the bustling club.  
  
***  
  
"Castiel!" Anna called from her bathroom.  
  
"Yes?" Castiel answered.  
  
"Could you come in here?"  
  
Castiel obliged. He found his feet frozen to the ground when he reached the wide open door of the bathroom. "Anna," he breathed out. His eyes snapped to the ground instantly.   
  
"Castiel, what's wrong with my body?"  
  
"N-nothing, Anna," he stammered. He raised his eyes slowly, tried to skip right over her nearly nude form, and found her own gaze in the mirrors reflection.  
  
Her hands came up to cup her hips, slid over the mild swell of her abdomen. "No, no. That's not true. I'm five and a half months pregnant and I don't even look it. I don't have that pretty round belly. I don't look like a balloon. All I look is wider and I'm getting stretch marks. Those women in photographs and magazines and books all have the perfect egg shape and they don't have any stretch marks at all. Why don't I look that way?"  
  
Castiel sighed and stepped up behind her in the bathroom. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. Despite his orientation he found himself combing his eyes over her form. The swell of her breasts seemed to look normal from what he'd seen in porn when he was young and still trying to will the gay away, not heavy like he expected a pregnant woman's breasts to be. Her fire red hair seemed thicker and wasn't as smooth as usual. Her body did look wider and there were angry red bands of flesh stretched too far coasting along the tops and sides of her stomach. She was right. She didn't look like the body you expected to see on a pregnant woman.  
  
"Anna," he began, and he let his hands cup her shoulders from behind, "not every woman is going to look the same when pregnant. Remember they said your placenta has formed higher up and that he is positioned with his head down. Maybe that has something to do with it. I can't begin to know, but I still think you look radiant." He tipped his head to the side and offered her a weak smile that she stared at for a moment in the mirror.  
  
"I hate it," she whispered, "I feel like I look like I'm just getting fat. People are looking at me funny when I go out."  
  
"People are looking at you funny because you're the surrogate carrying the child of a very famous gay couple as far as they're concerned."  
  
"What about Cain!" Anna spun to face him and Castiel's cheeks fired up instantly at the sight, at the motion of her chest bouncing. He thanked every God he knew of that she was wearing panties because he didn't think he could handle her full form. He'd figured out very quickly when he was young that he wasn't attracted to women and even now he wasn't so much repulsed as just uneasy. "He doesn't find me attractive anymore. He doesn't want to have sex at all."  
  
Castiel's brows knit together in a deep frown. He gripped Anna at her elbows. "Let me talk to him," he said quickly, and he rushed away from the room.  
  
Castiel fumbled with his cellphone, punching in Cain's number.   
  
On the third ring "hello?" came through the line.  
  
"Why aren't you having sex with Anna?" Castiel had no time for pleasantries. He did not need a pregnant, emotional women feeling neglected. He liked Anna but didn't know her well enough to say for certain she wouldn't say something she shouldn't if she felt rejected.  
  
"Castiel? What are you talking about?"  
  
"Anna is standing in your bathroom, naked, staring at her body and she is telling me that she doesn't look right and that you don't find her attractive anymore. She says you won't sleep with her. What is all this about?" Castiel pinched the bridge of his nose and sagged heavily against the nearest wall to him.  
  
Cain's laughter down the line made Castiel bristle. He didn't see the humor in this. "Castiel, I would love to have sex with Anna. She won't let me. She said she doesn't want me to see what's happening to her."  
  
Castiel groaned loudly, giving his head one hard knock against the wall. It figured. "Well, she's naked now and she wants sex now so you better make sure you come home and you fuck her. Balthazar invited me to some club tonight. I wasn't planning on going but I think I will so you two can have the place to yourselves. _Don't upset her_. I mean it."  
  
Castiel pressed the small phone icon on his screen and tucked the object back into his pocket.   
  
***  
  
"Doctor Winchester?" Dean winced at the word doctor. He felt all of his hair stand up uneasily when he realized that the voice, deep and rough like he had been chewing on gravel, could only belong to one person. As he turned around in the swinging lights of the club he forced a smile onto his face when his eyes fell upon the figure before him.  
  
"Cassie!"   
  
Before Dean could greet Castiel both of them were whipping their heads to the side. The British accent was attached to an older man wearing a deep cut v-neck shirt who had messy dirty-blonde hair. Dean thought he looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it.   
  
"Balthazar," Castiel said and recognition hit Dean. Balthazar was a television host. Dean was instantly plotting a get away, hoping he wasn't being spotted by any paparazzi that might be floating around.  
  
"Cassie, darling, I want you to meet-"  
  
"Kevin?" Dean stopped his slow slink away when he noticed that Kevin was standing beside Balthazar. This must have been the television personality Kevin wanted the club full for, Dean realized.   
  
"Dean! You actually came." Dean opened his arms to wrap Kevin in a tight hug, ruffling his black hair affectionately.  
  
"'Course I did. Said I would, didn't I?" He stepped back from his brother, eyeing Balthazar cautiously. "This is your TV big wig, eh?" He cocked a mocking eyebrow.  
  
"How do you all know each other?" It was Castiel who was speaking and Dean was reminded why he'd wanted to make an exit in the first place.  
  
"Yes," Balthazar started, stepping back to give Dean a once over. "My you're simply delicious. How do you know Kevin?"  
  
Dean scoffed, wrapping an arm around Kevin's shoulders and pulling the shorter man against him. "Kevin's my baby bro," Dean said proudly, "and the owner of the best damn club in this city."  
  
Kevin seemed to shrink at the praise, elbowing Dean lightly in the ribs. "Come on now," he muttered. Or it came off as a mutter. In reality it was very likely a normal volume considering how loud the club was and that everything else had been more of a yell over the music than an actual conversational volume so far.   
  
"Well then, someone is going to have to explain that one to me. The lights may be dim in this club but I am absolutely positive that you are not the same race." Balthazar let his eyes flip back and forth between Dean and Kevin several times before they finally turned to a very unimpressed looking Castiel. "Careful, Cassie. You keep making that face and it'll get stuck that way. Come, lets get a drink shall we? See if we can't pull that stick out of your ass."  
  
Dean couldn't help it when a laugh ripped from his chest. "Seems like this guy knows you pretty well," he said to Castiel. He clapped his hand on the dark haired mans shoulder, a show of good faith. He hoped he wouldn't have his night ruined by the diva he'd been stuck dealing with bi-weekly for the past four and a half months. As far as Dean was concerned, every other Thursday was far too often. He couldn't keep himself from noticing how warm Castiel's shoulder felt under his hand and swore he could feel his palm tingling when he let the man go.  
  
"Dick," Castiel shot over his shoulder before he was dragged away by Balthazar. Kevin gave Dean another quick hug before he scurried off after the two men.  
  
***  
  
Castiel couldn't believe his luck (or lack there of). After a couple of drinks and a lot of loud explanations shouted in ears he'd come to learn that Dean was the adopted older brother of Kevin Tran, the owner of _Twisted_ , the club that Balthazar had invited him to. He'd gotten a little background information on Dean, his biological brother Sam, and the wonderful mixed parents Bobby and Linda that all three boys had grown up with before moving out to the coast. He was surprised at how homey the entire situation was. He'd found Dr. Winchester attractive the second he laid eyes on him but the man had always been nothing but rude to him. It shocked Castiel to know, through the words of his younger sibling, that he was such a kind man and had been such a wonderful older brother. Something about the revelation made Castiel's chest feel tight and warm but he chalked that up to the alcohol in his system.  
  
Balthazar had wandered off with Kevin to check out the rest of the club and Castiel found himself sitting alone on a bar stool facing into the crowd of swaying bodies. He drummed his fingers to the beat of the music, checking his watch every time the song changed over. He'd promised Anna he wouldn't come home until very late so she and Cain could work through their issues. And by work through their issues he meant catch up on all the sex they hadn't been having without his having to hear it happen.   
  
"Hey!" Castiel's thoughts were interrupted when a head of curly black hair appeared in front of him. "As much as I love a good sulk, I've been watching you look miserable long enough. Time to come join us, okay?"   
  
"I'm sorry?" Castiel looked the woman over. Her round face didn't look friendly or unkind; it simply was. She wore a tight black shirt that hugged her chest and a grey-washed denim jacket over it. "Do I know you?"   
  
"No," she snorted, "you probably haven't noticed me. I'm Meg." She thrust a hand forward. Castiel took it, wary, and found himself yanked to his feet by the woman that was clearly much stronger than she looked upon first glance. "I'm one of the nurses at the _Maternity Care Clinic_." Meg turned her head sideways, raising a hand to point at a red haired woman that was grinning wildly and moving rapidly on the dance floor, "that's Charlie. She's one of the OB's at the _MCC_. We work with Deano."  
  
 _"Deano?_ " Castiel smirked at the horrific nickname.  
  
"That's right. We're the medical professionals that didn't meet your obscenely high standards." Castiel's face dropped. He was capable of feeling shame, he just chose not to show it. Perhaps the alcohol was beginning to affect him. "Cheer up, Clarence. We don't mind. Now come on. Charlie wants to meet you."  
  
"Clarence?" Castiel asked as he allowed Meg to drag him through the crowd toward Dean and the red head she referred to as Charlie.  
  
"Yeah," Meg laughed. There was no humor in the sound. _"It's A Wonderful Life?"_   
  
Castiel's lips pinched together tightly. He huffed out a breath. "The angel?"   
  
"That's right!" Castiel turned his head at the sound of the new voice. It came from the red head. "Meg here thinks it's real funny to call you Clarence."  
  
"Why?" Castiel watched as Meg wrapped an arm around Charlie and pressed a kiss to her temple, pleased smirk on her face.  
  
"Because you're a miserable bitch," Dean answered. Castiel felt his face heat and his eyes narrow to slits as he looked into the face of Anna's doctor. "Get it?" He laughed. "You know, since you're so awful to be around."   
  
_"Dean!"_ Charlie hissed.   
  
"Oh my god," Meg chuckled, "this is too good."  
  
Castiel stepped back, ready to make an escape, ready to find Balthazar and ask if he could stay the night at his and Ed's house so Anna and Cain really could have some time to themselves but his liquid courage, or liquid stupidity depending on how you looked at it, wouldn't let him.  
  
"You know what?" He started, and he jabbed a pointed finger into Dean's chest, "maybe it's you who's the miserable bitch and I just don't know how to fake nice around someone with no bedside manner what so ever. Did you ever think about that?"  
  
Dean had been swaying, pretending to be moving to the music, but his body halted. He tipped his chin down, eyed the finger that was still pressed into his muscled chest. He raised a hand and wrapped it around that delicate digit. "Nah." He yanked Castiel forward by his finger, pressed nose to nose with him and Castiel definitely didn't let himself take note of the heat that radiated off of the other man and how his body sparked at the proximity. "Pretty sure you're just a bitch."  
  
With that Dean released the finger and turned away from Castiel, shoving him with a shoulder as he did.   
  
"Fuck you," Castiel hissed, gripping Dean at the elbow. "Don't you dare think you can talk to me that way and just turn away from me and-"  
  
"Listen up, Princess," Dean snapped, his face inches from Castiel's. With his free arm he gripped the thinner mans wrist, squeezed it tight in his strong fingers, "maybe your husband lets you get away with this shit, and maybe Anna does too because she's just a surrogate. Hell, everyone you know probably lets you do whatever the hell you want because they think it's easier to let you be than to stand up to your bullshit attitude but I'm not your friend, and I'm not your husband, and I'm not your doctor. In four more months I'll never have to see you again and God damn if that baby can't come soon enough so I don't have to listen to you questioning me at every fuckin' turn anymore. You picked me for a reason. It'd be fantastic if you could remember that."  
  
Dean ripped Castiel's hand from his arm, hissing as he did. Castiel's finger nails had sunk in, tearing the top layer of skin as they came free. He looked down at the forming red marks that wrapped around the bend of Dean's arm. He clutched his hand to his chest like he'd burnt it and with that he turned and made a mad dash for the exit. He'd go to Balthazar's. Ed would let him in even without Balthazar there. Ed always understood.   
  
Castiel willed himself not to cry until he was out the door. He had built such a strong defense since coming to California and he wasn't going to let a little booze and one man ruin the world he'd built around himself. No one would know he'd left home at fourteen and turned tricks at truck stops all along the West coast to get himself to Hollywood. No one but Cain and Gabriel knew where he'd come from and what he'd done to get to where he was and some doctor telling him he was a princess was not going to change that. He'd worked too hard.  


	8. Time Goes By So Slowly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean wants to apologize to Castiel but he may never get the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's short. Mostly just angsty Dean and some passage of time. Will attempt to edit the following chapter and get it up today too.

Dean shoved the door open a little quicker than normal, face a faux shade of cheerful. "Anna, Cast- _oh_."  
  
"Sorry," Anna whispered. She sat alone in the room, feet dangling off the side of the table, "Castiel wasn't feeling well today so he sent me on his own." She offered him a sympathetic half-smile and laid back on the table, raising her shirt as he did.  
  
"Right, right. So, six months. That's exciting. How are you feeling?"  
  
"I don't think I look very pregnant. I'm not growing much at all. I don't really understand."  
  
Dean knit his brows together, measured her top to bottom. "Your measurements are still just fine, Anna."  
  
"Why am I getting stretch marks?"  
  
Dean laughed sadly as he pressed on her stomach, "because your skin is pulling itself way too thin to make room for this little guy. Are you still having the pain in your ribs?"  
  
As Anna sat up she touched the right side of her ribs lightly. "Sometimes. Mostly if I spend too much time sitting or laying on that side. I'm also starting to get really bad heart burn. It's waking me at night."  
  
Dean nodded and tapped away at his computer. "That's normal. Maybe we should run a blood test for the pain you're experiencing. It's likely just the fact your rib cage is being pushed upwards but sometimes the pain can be related to the liver. Best to rule everything else. I'll write you a prescription for the heart burn. Baby safe medication. Do you have any other questions today?"  
  
"No," Anna sighed. She waited in silence as the printer spat out a paper. Dean signed it, handed it over, opened the door to allow her out.  
  
"Hey," he called after her, "tell Castiel I hope he feels better."  
  
Anna nodded, that same sad smile on her face, and she was on her way.   
  
Dean felt terrible. It'd been nearly a week since his altercation with Castiel at the club. He'd meant what he said, there was no denying that, but had he not been so drunk he never would have vocalized his opinions of the man. Terrible or not, Castiel was the parent of the baby Anna was carrying and though that didn't make him directly Dean's patient he was still very much someone Dean needed to keep happy. People could write a bad review if they weren't happy with a doctor but a celebrity like Castiel could do so much more damage than just giving him one star online. Truth be told, Dean swore he saw the mans nose turn a bright pink like it might before you cry that Saturday. He couldn't begin to imagine that his words had actually upset him though. He was sure he'd heard much worse; he'd seen much worse said to him on _The Real Housewives_.  
  
***  
  
Dean opened the door slowly this time. His face hid his upset well. He'd spoken to Michael before entering the room this time. "Mr. Firstson," he greeted, "how nice to meet you."  
  
Cain stood up from his chair and reached his hand out. Dean gripped it tight. The shake was firm, powerful.   
  
"You as well," Cain answered, releasing the other man. "I thought it was about time I came to one of these appointments. I'd just been so busy but now that Castiel is- uhm, feeling so unwell, I thought I'd accompany Anna until he's better."  
  
Dean nodded. He had no right to complain. If Castiel didn't plan to show up again it was no concern of his. Maybe Anna or Cain had told him to stop coming after his outburst at the club. Dean didn't know and Dean was going to convince himself he didn't care.   
  
They went about the short appointment as normal and at the end Dean let Anna know her blood test results had come back normal. She told him the prescription was helping and that she was very thankful. Cain asked several questions that Dean answered easily.  
  
"This is for you," Dean said, handing Anna what appeared to be a pamphlet. "Take time every day to fill this in. Sit down, for two hours, relax yourself, and count the movements you can feel. You should be able to feel six in two hours. Make sure you don't always do it at the same time. If you ever don't feel six movements make sure you go to the hospital immediately. There's a chance you may end up with another doctor if something like that does happen but it's better to make sure baby is safe than it is to contact me. Okay?"  
  
Dean watched as Cain and Anna rose. He found it sweet how much attention Cain paid to her. He helped her into her sweater, he carried her bag for her, he had a hand supporting the small of her back. He was so proud of his child to be and so thankful for his surrogate. Dean thought it was beautiful to see until it reminded him of how Castiel was the polar opposite.  
  
"I guess opposites really do attractive," Dean muttered as he watched them go.


	9. Heat Of The Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna worries about the baby and Castiel finally reaches his boiling point. Dean doesn't know when to shut his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun. It's finally here. Baby got his first immunizations yesterday so I managed to write this one while he was sleeping it off. It exhausted him to cry so hard which meant time for me to type furiously. I may be off from my own rounds of immunizations so stay with me here, folks.

Castiel heard Anna sniffle from her place on the couch. When he turned his head to view her he witnessed her lightly patting her stomach. "What's the matter?"  
  
"It's been two hours and I've only felt four movements. Dean said I'm supposed to feel six. I don't understand." Anna pressed her fingertips into her belly.   
  
"Maybe he's just sleeping," Castiel offered, raising from his own place on the sofa to stand before her. "Let me feel." He knelt down in front of her, both palms pressed flat over the span of her body. For several moments their four hands stayed cupped around her, neither of them moving, neither of them doing much more than breathing.   
  
"I'm sure he's just sleeping," Castiel whispered. He stood abruptly. "I wouldn't stress yourself out over it. It's not good for either of you. You said he had four movements, that's still movement. He's fine, I'm sure."  
  
"You're probably right. Maybe it's just me."   
  
"It's late. You should sleep as well. Perhaps if you do when you wake up you can try again. I'm sure you'll find he's moving around plenty then."  
  
"Yes," Anna agreed. With that, she pushed herself up from the couch and made her way to her own bedroom.   
  
Castiel wished Cain wasn't out of town. He was much better at comforting Anna than Castiel was.   
  
***  
  
"Castiel," Anna whimpered as she entered the kitchen.  
  
"Anna?" Castiel gaped at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair pulled haphazardly into a rats nest of a bun. "What's wrong?" He placed the mug he'd been holding down quickly on the nearest counter top.  
  
"I haven't felt him move at all. I sat there for three hours and I didn't feel a thing. Something's wrong. Something has to be. I-" She stopped, sniffed loudly, "you have to take me to the hospital. Please?"  
  
"Of course, Anna."    
  
Castiel hustled, taking the stairs two at a time. He grabbed the first things he could reach in his closet and fumbled his way into them as he fumbled his way back downstairs. He grabbed his keys and wallet in a flash, yanked the door open for Anna who had a sleeve to her nose, wiping at it as is dripped.   
  
"It's okay," Castiel told her as he opened the passenger door to his personal car. Very rarely did Castiel take his favored, his-and-only-his car anywhere. He always took something newer and less obvious but right now Castiel just wanted to get to the hospital fast as he could. "Stop crying," he added as he slid into the drivers side of the '72 emerald green Ranchero, "everything's going to be fine."   
  
  
***  
  
Castiel paced the length of the room impatiently, his eyes downcast as he waited. Anna laid in the hospital bed beside him, monitors strapped to her stomach and a button in her hand she was to push every time she felt the baby move. They'd been told she would only be monitored for twenty minutes but they were going on hour two. Anna continued to rarely feel movements.   
  
Meg, the nurse Castiel had met at Kevin's club, had been the one to hook Anna up and check on her periodically. Finally, she returned to the room.  
  
"Since we're still having trouble with the movements and we can't seem to get an accurate read on the heart rate we're going to have an ultrasound tech come up with a little mobile machine and have a look at what's going on."  
  
"Thank you, Meg." Anna nodded her thanks and laid backward on the bed. Occasionally the sound of a sniff would pierce the heavy air in the room but the only sound otherwise was the scuff of Castiel's ever moving shoes.   
  
Another thirty-seven minutes passed before the tech arrived and with them came a familiar face.  
  
"Dean," Anna sighed, "I'm glad you're here."  
  
"Hey Anna," Dean said softly, "we're going to just take a look at you here and see if we can figure out what's going on, alright?" Dean turned to face the screen, watching it closely as the technician rolled the examination tool over Anna's stomach. "She's just over seven months," Dean said to the technician, who was pointing at the screen. Neither Castiel nor Anna had any idea what he was pointing at and Castiel found himself growing irritated.  
  
"What's the problem?!" He snapped. Dean's eyes shot to his face, as if he'd just noticed he was there for the first time. Maybe he had.  
  
Dean's eyes stayed fixed on Castiel as he spoke. "Everything looks fine, Anna. He's still head down and he's laying sideways inside of you. His feet are pressing against the right side of your rib cage, which is why you're having the pain. Your placenta having formed at the top of the uterus, near your rib cage as well, is why you aren't feeling much movement. It's just creating a barrier so instead of a firm kick you may feel a little fluttering instead. You won't feel much strong movement due to his position but we still want you to be aware of those little fluttering movements you've been noticing since they may be all you feel in this pregnancy."  
  
Suddenly Anna was crying in full force again. Dean appeared alarmed and the technician wrapped up his business quickly and rolled it out of the room even faster, letting the door slam shut behind him.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Castiel groaned in frustration, threw his hands up in the air, "God you really are fucking clueless aren't you?" He stormed out of the room, passing Meg in the doorway as he went.   
  
Castiel moved nimbly down the hall, around a corner, and leaned all his weight against the wall. He was exhausted down to his bones. The entire situation was becoming too stressful and Castiel had hoped to never see Dean Winchester again.   
  
"Hey!" A hand slammed against the wall beside Castiel's head. He stood straighter, eyes flying up to glare into the viridian ones before him. "What the fuck is your problem?"  
  
As quickly as Castiel had grew under the scrutiny he shrunk under it again. Dean was leaning into him, only a couple inches from his face, his breath hot and angry against Castiel's cheek. The hand that was flattened against the wall beside his head boxed him in. Castiel couldn't run away this time. Dean had trapped him.  
  
"My problem? What the hell are you people doing. We've been seeing you all along, we've been getting ultrasounds all along. How could you possibly not have noticed this before? How could you just not mention that oh, hey, by the way, you won't be able to feel your baby moving. Do you have any idea how traumatic that was for Anna? She's never been pregnant before and here she is, not growing the way she thinks she should and she's only gained twenty pounds and she's convinced it isn't enough and now she can't even feel her child moving inside of her? That's horrific for a mother, Dean!" Castiel raised his arms, pressed his palms into Dean's shoulders. "Get the fuck out of my face."  
  
Dean squinted, face drawing in, and scanned the span of Castiel's face. "What about for you?" It was barely more than a whisper and something in Dean's eyes flashed an emotion Castiel couldn't quite put his finger on. He pressed at the mans shoulders again.  
  
"What the fuck about me?" He pressed again, "goddamn it, get off of me."  
  
"God," Dean sighed, "are you that dead inside? Don't you feel _anything_?"  
  
Castiel stiffened, his nails sunk into Dean's shoulders and he let out a growl, "what's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"She's in there, horrified, because she's carrying your child and she's probably crying because she thinks she's failing you and what are you doing? You're telling me what I'm doing wrong. You don't even seem remotely concerned about your baby."  
  
"Of course I'm concerned, I-"  
  
"You don't seem relieved at all." Dean snorted out a bitter laugh and moved himself an inch or two back but Castiel's fingers were still pinched tight into the material of his shirt. "You're just dead inside, aren't you? Fucking Hollywood as they come. You disgust me."  
  
Castiel shook with rage, fingers trembling as they held steady on the other man. "No," he whimpered, "that's not true."  
  
"Yes," Dean hissed, "it is. What the fuck happened to you so bad that you're like this? How does your husband even tolerate you?"  
  
"Dean," Castiel warned, barely louder than a mouse. "You don't know anything," he tried, pathetically weak and soft.   
  
Dean's hands came up, wrapped tight around Castiel's wrists. "Is that so?"  
  
Castiel gulped in a breath of air, felt his nose burning as tears threatened to trickle from his eyes. He turned his head to the side sharply, released his fingers from Dean's shoulders. "Just let go of me," he whispered.  
  
"Oh no no," Dean chuckled, "I don't think so. The Ice Queen's about to cry and he thinks I'm not going to be here to see it? Come on, _Cassie_ , show me how real you are."  
  
Castiel couldn't help himself. He was so built up from the months that had passed. He'd seen less and less of Balthazar which he was bitterly reminded of when Dean uttered the nickname the Brit had given him. He'd witnessed more and more of Anna and Cain together. He didn't have his husband to rely on the same way he once had and he didn't want to bog Gabriel down with all his issues. He'd spent seven months irritated and alone in his own home, attacked everywhere he went outside of it by his so called friends, paparazzi, and continuously the doctor and nurse he'd specifically sought out. He couldn't take it anymore. The dam was breaking and Castiel didn't know how to stop it for the first time in nearly half his life.  
  
"Fuck you," he squeaked out. Before he could stop himself his wrists were turning in Dean's hands,  fingers gripping the taller mans cheeks firmly. "You stupid fucking asshole."   
  
Dean's lips parted to respond. Or, that's what Castiel assumed. His mouth had covered the other mans, felt the small separation they offered up as they hit is own. He took advantage of it too quickly. The shock in Dean, the terror in himself. The fingers wrapped around his wrists stayed dangerously tight,flexed momentarily, as Castiel's tongue prodded at the minuscule part of Dean's lips and he couldn't tell if it was intentional or not but that tiny opening expanded and in mere seconds Castiel was learning the semi-rough texture of Dean's tongue against his own.   
  
After what Castiel knew was too long because even the thought of doing this was wrong, he ripped his head away, gasping. For air? Out of shock? He himself couldn't tell. His fingers ached as he pried them from Dean's face. The white-knuckled grasping of his wrists ended in the same moment and Dean stood before him, face looking confused but eyes looking blown with lust. Castiel didn't risk looking into those eyes for too long in fear he might capture those swollen red lips with his own again. Smooth as a snake Castiel slithered his body out from under Dean.  
  
"I-" He didn't look back when the word left Dean's lips. "You-" He was down the hall in Anna's room, gathering the now dressed and much calmer woman. "We-" He heard it as he rushed Anna and himself past where Dean was still standing, dumbfounded.   
  
He'd been so wrapped up in himself Castiel had failed to notice the equally dumbfounded expression on Meg's face when he'd entered Anna's room. He'd failed to notice the shame written all over Anna's face. He'd failed to notice the way Anna had begged Meg not to say anything as he dragged her away.

Perhaps Castiel was mistaken; maybe everything wasn't going to be fine.


	10. PSA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a chapter. It's explanation/apology.

Hey guys.  
I haven't abandoned this, I promise.  
Things have been nuts!  
My baby and I both ended up having bad reactions to our immunziations, then it was his baby shower, doctors appointments, the dogs annual vet visit, my friends birthday, my moms birthday, lunch date with a friend I haven't seen since before I had my baby, then I FINALLY got started on my largest tattoo project on Saturday. I also run a small knitting business and have projects due this coming week and then my son decided to fuss like a nut case because he turned 3 months old and decided a growth spurt was needed as well as deciding that, despite being way too young, he's over the boob and he wants solid food so I've been trying to keep up with that too. This is the first time I've even opened my laptop in a week. I am going to try really hard to get myself caught up and get a chapter out hopefully this week.


	11. I'm A Dreamer, Yeah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first doctors appointment after Dean and Castiel's encounter at the hospital (Actually chapter 10)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so if you saw my PSA you know this is probably going to be rushed and junk and oh my lord I haven't slept in a week. That being said, expect chapters to come from POV's that aren't Dean/Castiel soon. Now that we've built up a little to the story we're going to start getting the whole of their worlds involved. I will try very hard to keep up a good pace but children are unpredictable. You might also be noticing little spelling things that are different than you're used to. I'm Canadian. Labour/Labor for example. Neighbour/neighbor, Colour/color. We like u's here.

Castiel couldn't understand why he was there. What was he thinking? He had no business doing this. The jig was up. He was sure of it. He should just get up, leave the keys with Anna, tell her he had a headache or something. Yes. That was the perfect idea. As Castiel stood his right hand dropped into his pocket, instantly wrapping around the jagged metal of his key.  
  
"Anna," he started. He was instantly cut off when the door swung open.  
  
"Hello, Anna, Castiel."  
  
"Hello Dean," Castiel grit out. He could feel the panic bubbling up inside of him. Dean hadn't looked at him when he spoke, only at Anna. He'd offered the greeting, polite and professional, but his attention was exclusively on the not-so-petite-anymore woman. Castiel didn't know whether he should be offended or relieved. He decided to go with relieved and let his shoulders sag as he silently released a long breath. He could do this. They were both adults. It had been an honest mistake in an emotional moment. Dean surely understood that, Castiel assured himself.  
  
The appointment went along smoothly, Anna asking questions and Dean answering and Castiel sitting quietly, staring at the posters on the walls telling women not to drink when pregnant. He read them over and over, breathed steadily, cracked all of his knuckles anxiously so many times his fingers ached by the end of the short appointment.  
  
"Next week will be week 35, which means we'll be seeing you weekly inside of biweekly going forward. Michael and I have managed to arranged our shifts in such a way that we can accommodate you guys. If you don't have anymore questions, Anna, I'd like to speak to Castiel alone." Dean hesitated. Castiel's eyes snapped to his face. Blank. "Just regarding some of the things he'll need to consider once you deliver the child and give him to Castiel and Cain, of course." Castiel forced a corner of his mouth up. It felt more like an unattractive twitch than a smile.  
  
"Of course," Castiel heard Anna saying. He considered telling Dean there was nothing he couldn't say in front of her but she was out of the room before he had a chance and something told Castiel that Dean wasn't interested in discussing the soon-to-be baby.  
  
"S-so," he stammered. His fingers clutched his knees tightly through the faded denim jeans he wore.  
  
"So," Dean parroted. He was standing up, a mountain compared to Castiel's mole hill, but he didn't look unkind. "I think..."  
  
Castiel felt the corner of his mouth tug again. Definitely a twitch. He hadn't been this nervous since Cain had stretched a hand out to him on the street and offered him a warm bed and home cooked food what now seemed like an era before.  
  
"Itwasanaccident," Castiel gushed. Dean blinked at him. He sucked in a breath. "I mean," Castiel tried again, "what I did. It was-"  
  
Suddenly Dean was closer. Castiel was sure of it. He hadn't seen the slightly taller man move forward, but when Dean reached out a hand as an offer to pull Castiel up, the fact they were mere inches from each other told Castiel his assumption was correct.  
  
"You were something, alright," Dean growled out. Castiel's face felt hot. The way the older mans voice dipped to an octave Castiel hadn't heard come from him before made his stomach give a feeble clench. Excitement? Terror? Castiel gulped. He saw Dean's eyes shoot down to watch the motion of his throat.  
  
"I was very upset," Castiel tried, "about the baby. You were being so rude and I was very emotional and I acted out. It was inappropriate. I apologize."  
  
"No you weren't," Dean whispered. His breath was hot. It felt damp on Castiel's cheek. Dean's eyes were still tipped downward but they weren't fixed on his throat anymore. They seemed to cloud over with an emotional Castiel was too uncertain to define as they worked over the curve of his chin and settled on his lips.  
  
Instinctively Castiel's tongue slipped out to wet them. Dean inhaled noisily as he witnessed it. Cas wasn't sure he could handle the scrutiny much longer. "Of course I was." Dean's eyes flickered with the motion of the words.  
  
"No," he said again, and Castiel didn't know how it happened or when but he was now very aware of his back being against the shut door of the examination room. He'd considered backing away, making a break for it. Apparently his body had decided to start the escape without informing him.  
  
"Doctor Winchester," Castiel said slowly. He raised a hand and placed the palm flat on Dean's chest. A mistake. His fingers tingled like they'd been shocked. He could feel the hard plains of Dean's pectoral muscles, the dip of Dean's sternum where one of his fingers rested. More muscle than he'd realized. More muscle than he'd fantasized about.  
  
_"Fuck_ ," Dean muttered, "do you have any idea how you sound?" Dean had a hand on Castiel's wrist, trailed it up his arm, brought it up to rest on the side of Castiel's neck. _"Say it again."_  
  
Castiel inhaled sharply, could feel his pulse pounding in his neck below Dean's warm palm. No. He wouldn't do that. This was insanity. This was horrifying him. He'd made a mistake. He'd just have to correct Dean.  
  
_"Doctor Winchester."_ Or not, apparently. Castiel couldn't pin point when his brain and mouth decided to stop working as a team. He didn't have time to consider the issue because he was rudely interrupted by the feeling of Dean's pretty pink lips slamming into his own. He could feel more than hear the low rumble of a growl coming from the larger man when Castiel didn't respond. He quickly obliged. That was close enough to an apology, he figured. Castiel always had loved a man in charge.  
  
"That's right," Dean whispered. His breathing was ragged when he pulled back from Castiel. He let his forehead rest against the shorter mans, dirty blonde hair tickling the line of Castiel's own ebony locks. "Gonna take care of you," Dean added, "we can play doctor." Castiel squeaked when the good doctors comment was punctuated by the hand that wasn't at his neck gripping his hip tight. Squeezing. So warm. The squeak was followed by a small whimper. Dean's thumb had tucked under the hem of Castiel's t-shirt, grazed a nail over the slender hip bones. "Gonna make you feel so good."  
  
"Castiel?"  
  
Castiel snapped his head up, dazed, at the sound of Anna's voice. "Guh?" His vision seemed blurry and he instinctively raised the heels of his hands to scrub at his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I must have..." He shook his head. "What were you saying?"  
  
Both Anna and Dean were standing over him, concerned looks on their faces. He'd zoned out, disappeared into fantasy land during Anna's appointment. His face felt hot all over again.  
  
"We're done," Dean answered. Anna nodded. "Are you alright, man?"  
  
"Actually," he sighed out, "do you think I could talk to you alone for a minute? Regarding things to consider once the baby arrives and Anna departs." Castiel wasn't hoping to play out his little dream sequence, but he did feel the need to clear the air with Dean as soon as possible. It just so happened that his dream logic fit well in reality at the moment.  
  
"Absolutely. If that's alright with Anna, of course." Castiel noticed Anna nod and he instinctively handed her the keys.  
  
"It's too hot for you to sit in the car without AC," he heard himself saying. He didn't stand. Just watched Anna walk away. His legs trembled, unsure. After the door closed behind the rounded red head, he let out a shaky breath.  
  
"Look-"  
  
"No," Castiel growled, "let me speak." He sniffed shortly, composed himself, shook out his stiff limbs. "Please," he started, more relaxed this time, "sit down?"  
  
Dean nodded, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and plunked down on his stool. It still gave him a slight height advantage over Castiel but the dark haired man didn't let that get to him. Not knowing where to start he found himself staring at the wall for a moment before he risked looking at Dean. He saw that the emerald eyed doctor looked just as terrified as he felt and it somehow gave him the courage he needed. He flexed his fingers on his knees once, twice, before he wiped his clammy palms on his denim clad thighs.  
  
"Okay. What I did- I- You see." He paused, looked down at his feet. Smiled at his Vans. He'd gone comfy casual today. He was humored by how ironic his attire was compared to his attitude. "What a mess," Castiel laughed out nervously.  
  
"Yeah," Dean agreed with his own anxious chuckle.  
  
"I'm sorry." Castiel lifted his head and looked into Dean's eyes. He could see flecks in them of a golden brown color and mentally noted how it was as if his freckles reached his irises. "I was upset, and you were pushing, and it's been an extremely stressful eight months. Or, nearly eight, I guess I should say."  
  
"I understand." Castiel's face contorted in surprise. Dean understood? "Becoming a parent is a very tense situation. I behaved inappropriately. I can only imagine what it must be like to add being a celebrity to the stress of preparing for a child, and how welcoming Anna into your home full time must have... _put a strain_ on your relationship with your husband." Dean's statement peaked at the end, sounded like a question.  
  
_Oh._ Castiel dug his teeth into his bottom lip, forced himself to nod at Dean. The doctor thought his outburst was because he and Cain were having marital problems? His teeth sunk in further, began to hurt. He was trying to suppress a laugh. If Dean only knew how far off he was.  
  
"Yes," Castiel sighed out. "We haven't been..." A blush crept up his cheeks easily. It wasn't a lie to say he and Cain hadn't been intimate. Ever. Of course, that was the big secret. Castiel's mind momentarily drifted; was he only so attracted to Dean because he hadn't had sex with anyone in such a long time? His eyes traced over the younger man. His legs looked muscular and strong in his tight dress pants. His hands were soft but rugged, as if he was ready to do manual labour instead of the baby type of labour at any moment. His lips were plump, pink, soft. His freckles...  
  
Dean cleared his throat, shook Castiel from his admiration. "I will consider what happened something to stay in the realm of doctor-patient confidentiality and it'll be our little secret, alright? We've only got to get through just over a month more and then we'll be out of each others hair permanently. Unless, I suppose, you decide to have another baby with Anna as the surrogate again."  
  
"Yes," Castiel agreed, and then, "you're absolutely right. Soon enough we won't have to deal with each other," he repeated. His face brightened for a second, relieved. It dropped as quickly. He looked into Dean's face again before he stood. "Thank you."  
  
"Of course," Dean said, following Castiel's lead by raising to a standing position as well. He stretched out a hand and Castiel grasped it, shook it, felt that same electricity he had day dreamed of.  
  
Castiel dropped his hand and instead turned to grip the exam room doors handle. His fingers twitched as they held the cool metal, such a contrast from the warmth of Dean's palm. _"Doctor Winchester?"_ He asked softly. He swore he heard the faint sound of a sharp inhale.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Firstson?"  
  
Castiel winced at the formality being returned. He turned around to face Dean again, and an entire life of living with a mask on faltered, just long enough, for Castiel to say something ridiculously foolish.  
  
"Would you like to have coffee sometime?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags will be added but sex is coming into play here probably in the next few chapters and this is your warning that kinks are awesome and I will be including some.


End file.
